Andre Reidmor

I love this painting at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Almost six hundred years old, the colours are still vivid and Andre makes me quake a little in my boots.

So I knew he had to be in the book, because if I was slightly intimidated by him, what would it be like for Mona Dunn and her best friend Clem?

What is this sleepover thing?” Andre Reidmor asked. His painting was almost six hundred years old, and he’d been on loan to another gallery when the last sleepover was held, in 1998.

“The children taking part in the art camps get to spend the night in the gallery at the end of the week,” Mona whispered, even though, if truth be told, she was a little afraid of the stern-faced giant bear of a man who strode about in his fur-trimmed green velvet cape.

What role does Andre play in The Frame-Up, and how does he survive the sleepover?

Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth Sleep-Walking, Eugène Delacroix, 1850. Oil on canvas

I’ve always loved Delacroix and Lady Macbeth is one of my favourite Shakespearean characters, so it was a no-brainer to include her in the book.

I imagine her wandering the Beaverbrook Art Gallery every night, shouting “Out, damn spot!” much to the annoyance of all the residents of the gallery.

There’s an annoying person in every crowd, and you just know that having Lady Macbeth wandering the gallery at night has gotten on everyone’s nerves for decades.

There are women and then there are WOMEN.

Helena Rubinstein was a WOMAN.

According to Wikipedia:

Helena Rubinstein (born Chaja Rubinstein; December 25, 1872 – April 1, 1965) was a Polish American businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist. A cosmetics entrepreneur, she was the founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein Incorporated cosmetics company, which made her one of the world’s richest women.

Helena Rubinstein, 1957, Graham Sutherland, Oil on Canvas

Upon seeing the portraits Graham Sutherland painted of her, Helena Rubinstein had this reaction (as described in her autobiography, My Life For Beauty (London: The Bodley Head, 1965):

They were both incredibly bold, domineering interpretations of what I never imagined I looked like. I had never seen myself in such a harsh light. Yet later, when they were exhibited at the Tate Gallery, although I scarcely recognized myself through Sutherland’s eyes, I had to admit that as paintings they were indeed masterpieces…One of the portraits was purchased by Lord Beaverbrook for his gallery in Fredericton, Canada. The other thanks in the entrance hallway of my New York apartment. Whenever I have a moment to study it, I wonder…am I really the austere, determined woman Sutherland painted so masterfully?

In The Frame-Up, Helena is not an austere, determined woman, but a convivial host, and a kind friend to Mona Dunn. Indeed, her painting is one of Mona and her friend Clem’s favourite places to visit. Helena plays a key role in the story, telling Mona and Clem about one of the most famous art thefts in the world, the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre.

Madame Rubinstein chuckled and placed a heavily ringed hand on Mona’s shoulder. “The paintings here are superstititous, that is all. They do not like his methods. But if Director Dinger does not mind, why should I?”

“Do you think we can trust Sneely?” Clem asked.

“Is anyone trustworthy, Clement Cotterell? We are all human and therefor frail.”

I can’t wait until you can read The Frame-Up and meet Helena Rubinstein!

One of my favourite characters in The Frame-Up is Somerset Maugham

Why? Well first of all, Maugham is one of my favourite authors (I re-read The Razor’s Edge at least every other year) and he was also a friend of Lord Beaverbrook’s.

With his brilliant storytelling mind, he was a natural fit for the story.

The Beaverbrook Art Gallery has several of the studies artist Graham Sutherland did of his portrait subjects (including sketches of Winston Churchill Sutherland did in preparation for the portrait he painted of the great man that Churchill famously destroyed in The Crown!) and I loved this sketch of Maugham in particular for two reasons:

1) There is kind of a pinched nobility to Maugham’s face in the sketch that draws you in and makes you want you to hear his stories. Maugham was 79 years old at the time of the sketch and had lived a long and interesting life.

2) The sketch is of a head only.

In The Frame-Up, most of the residents who live behind the frames have full bodies they can move between paintings in, regardless of whether we can see that body in the portrait or painting, because the artist was thinking of the whole of them whilst painting them.

That is not the case for sketches of body parts, since the artist is focusing exclusively on one thing, not the whole person.

Thus, our friend poor Mr. Maugham is only a head, albeit a head filled with 79 years’ worth of experience.

Imagine the frustration!

In the story, Maugham must rely on the kindness of other residents to take him places, and he often gets left behind, since Lord Beaverbrook has stuck him in a basement workroom to punish him for spreading gossip.

Maugham’s eyes narrowed. “It’s never just us and her,” he whispered. “We live in a world where someone is always watching. The paintings in this gallery have lived here for decades. They get bored, you know, they cause mischief. . . .”

One of the most popular paintings at the Beaverbrook Art Galley is Merrymaking.

Merrymaking, Cornelius Krieghoff, 1860, oil on canvas

This locale, home to the White Horse Inn, is very important to the plot of The Frame-Up.

The painting is one of the paintings to be restored by the strange art restorer, Archibald Sneely, and is home to dozens of gallery residents.

Mona Dunn escapes into this painting at a critical point in the story, only to find herself surrounded by a less genteel group of individuals.

Merrymaking, painted by Canadian Cornelius Krieghoff in 1860, was one of the most popular paintings in the art gallery and Mona knew why: it was the perfect French Canadian Christmas card, thanks to the party at the White Horse Inn, the snow, and the sleighs. Mona had never been in the painting, but she’d spent many evenings outside the frame, listening to the lively accordions and fiddles, wishing she could go for a sleigh ride.

I knew from the very beginning that Merrymaking needed to be in the book.

A careful examination of the painting shows us that there is quite a lot going on, and some of it seems less than Christmas-card-like.

In fact, there were too many story possibilities in the painting not to include it!

It’s a lively painting, and very accessible, so its no wonder it’s a patron favourite!

As with the last two paintings, it’s worth taking a look at the book cover again. Who knows what you might spot there?

I’m not going to lie: this is one of my favourite paintings in the world!

San Vigilio, Lake Garda John Singer Sargent, 1913. Oil on canvas

John Singer Sargent has long been one of my favourite painters, and it’s no coincidence that the boy protagonist in my story is named Sargent Singer.

And this painting, with its azure blues, golden light, shimmery shadows, captures what must surely be one of the most bucolic rocky piers in the world.

Though Sargent is well-known for his arresting portraits, and at one time, was the most highly paid portrait painter in the world, I have always been drawn to landscapes.

And I’m not the only one.

In The Frame-Up, San Vigilio, Lake Garda is Mona Dunn’s special place, the place where she goes to escape the often tedious world in which she lives.

Mona sat on the stony pier and dangled her feet in the lake, trying to decide if she should grab a fishing pole. As she stared at the lapping waves, a ridiculous that presented itself to her: did Sargent Singer like to fish? Horrified, she she shut her eyes, but there was no escaping the memory of him staring with such intensity at her portrait, making those funny faces, looking at her as if she was alive. That was the worst, him looking at her as if she were a real person.

If you look carefully at the book’s cover, you may be able to spot the painting!

San Vigilio, Lake Garda plays an important part in the story, and I am confident that when you read the book, you will come to love it as I do!

At least half of the characters in The Frame-Up are actual paintings.

Most of these paintings have been part of the Beaverbrook Art Collection for decades, which is why they are included in my book.

What would it be like to live in close quarters with the same people for decades on end?

Today, I thought I’d introduce you to an important locale in the book:

The Terror

The Crew of the MHS ‘Terror’ Saving the Boats and Provisions on the Night of 15th March (1837) George Chambers, 1838. Oil on canvas

I always knew this painting would be included in the book. There is something so perilous, so frightening about the scene, which depicts the the abandoning of the ship during the ill-fated Franklin expedition.

In his book, Masterworks From the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Editor Terry Graff says this of the artist:

George Chambers was an English marine painter. At the age of ten, he served as a cabin boy on a coasting vessel and later apprenticed to the master of a brig, or sailing vessel, in the Meditteranean and Baltic Seas. He had a natural talent for art and impressed the captain and crew with his remarkable drawings of sea vessels. At his request, the captain released him from serving his apprenticeship so he could devote himself full-time to his painting. Chambers went on to have several exhibitions, including at Tate Britain, the National Galleries of Scotland, and the Royal Academy of Maritime Pictures, and to become arguably the most important marine painter of the nineteenth century.

In The Frame-Up, the painting serves as an important locale, and our heroine Mona Dunn must brave the stark and dangerous landscape if she hopes to save the day.

I loved the idea that the characters depicted in the painting had to spend their days re-enacting this horrible event, and then, once the Gallery was shut down for the night, could escape and warm up elsewhere.

Personally, I can’t imagine having the nerve to step into this painting, and it says a lot for Mona’s character that she’s willing to. There’s an important secret hidden behind the walls of ice, one that can only be found if Mona is brave enough to try.

The howling wind almost knocked her off her feet, tossing icy particles that stung her eyes. She moved timidly, testing the ice with each step. The wind whirled another cyclone of snow and ice, out of which stepped a man with a grizzled face.

“Lord thundering’, what are ya doing here? It ain’t safe!”

If you look at the cover of The Frame-Up, you might be able to spot this painting!

Happy Friday and big congratulation to @goldenteach, who won the books!

Don’t worry – more giveaways to come, including an ARC of the Frame-Up VERY SOON!

Speaking of The Frame-Up:

I was so happy to be finally able to share the final cover of the book this week!

I think Ian Schoenorr did a spectacular job!

And while I love the painting in the center, it’s the frame that blows me away. When the books comes out, it will be in gold foil and I can’t wait to see it!

Best of all, the frame gives you a sneak peek of some of the paintings and some of the story, and is its own little puzzle box.

Greenwillow Books has done a spectacular job designing the book, the highlight of which, along with the cover, will be fifteen colour glossy pages of the masterpieces that are actual characters in the story.

In the coming weeks, I’ll share the paintings with you to whet your appetite, and to explain why I chose them, but today I thought I’d start with why I wrote the book.

If you haven’t gone to read my post revealing the cover, hop over here now!

There’s background about the book and links for pre-ordering! You can also find the pre-order links on my Welcome Page! Pre-Ordering is a wonderful way to support books and helps drive early sales!

I wrote a cover letter for The Frame-Up Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) and thought you might all like to read it, too:

Have you ever wanted to step inside a painting, see what it feels like to be on the other side of the frame? I’ve wanted to do that my whole life, ever since I watched a movie as a kid where the painting’s creepy eyes ‘followed’ the main character around the room. And when I read the first Harry Potter book I fell in love with the idea of the Hogwarts paintings having lives of their own, separate, and often apart, from the wizards they shared a home with.

It’s late 2015. I’m sitting in my living room, staring at my great-grandmother’s painting of a cow. I wonder if it mooed a lot while it was being painted. And then I wonder what the purple lady in a nearby painting will think if the cow suddenly wanders into her painting. Will she shoo it away or invite it to stay for a visit? There’s a story there. A book even.

I’m lucky, I grew up with art and artists and own nice paintings, but I live near a place with amazing paintings: The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, a place I’ve visited since I was young. The more I thought about setting my book at the gallery, the more excited I became. Many of the paintings have been there for decades. Surely by now they’ve created their own world. I started to make a list of the questions I’d like to ask them; do they get sick of one another and of people staring at them; is it hard to sit still for hours on end; do they wish they could talk to us? The more I wrote about their world, the more I wished I could step inside it myself.

Now, when I visit art galleries, I talk to the paintings and imagine what it was like the day they were painted. Oh sure, they don’t usually talk back, but they might someday. And I keep a careful watch out of the corner of my eye, because you never know when one of them might slip up and I finally get a chance to make a new friend. Art has always been magical to me. I hope that when you finish this book, you’ll be inspired to visit an art gallery or to paint a masterpiece of your own. I promise that once you start to think about paintings as living things, they come alive for you. Happy reading and painting, Wendy

What I DIDN’T want in telling this story was for the characters in the paintings to be able to leave, a la Night at the Museum. When you read the book you’ll see the world beyond the frames is its own separate society, with its own rules, and its own problems.

It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! is about to celebrate its first birthday on February 7th!

And since that’s close to Valentine’s Day, I thought we should have a giveaway of not just a hardcover copy of It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! but of Carter Higgins’ wonderful new picture book, This is not a Valentine!

I loved Carter’s book so much and I think you will love it, too! It would be the perfect present for your valentine!

And as a treat, I’m throwing in a box of Ganong’s Delecto Chocolates!

Once you read It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! you’ll understand the importance of Ganong Chocolates to the main character, Tracy.

For a chance to win this great prize pack, leave me a message below, or follow me on twitter @wendymacknight or on instagram @wendymcleodmacknight.

I’ll pick a winner next Thursday! And teachers – let me know if you’d like me to throw in a Skype visit, if you win!

I edited The Frame Up, which is coming in early June. (and boy am I ever dying to share the cover with you!)

Don’t you love those blank book covers on Goodreads? NOT!

I passed in my next book to my editor.

And I wrote two other books that may never see the light of a printed page. Such is writing.

I am beginning another book and toying with two other ideas.

None of those things exist, I believe, save for the existence of the thing that preceded it.

So I enter 2018 not with a clean slate, but with a lined face and heart, and a spark of hope. Mostly, I wish for peace, for me and everyone on this gorgeous blue planet we call home.

I can’t imagine needing anything else.

I’ll end this post with a quote by one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman, a quote that seems to pop up all over Facebook and Twitter this time of year, and which is worth hearing again and again:

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.

2017 is quickly drawing to a close.

And with it, the end of my debut year as a children’s book author.

There have been many ups and downs this year – happy surprises, thrills, and the odd disappointment (how is it I DIDN’T make the New York Times bestseller list?) but by far, the loveliest surprise was going through it with all the other 2017 debut authors.

They are an illustrious group and many of them did make it onto the NYT Bestseller lists: Stephanie Garber, Angie Thomas, Nic Stone, Karen McManus to name but a few.

Sometimes, over the course of this year, I’ve forgotten just how fortunate we debut authors were. Not only to break into the publishing world, but to have each other to ask questions of, to celebrate with, to commiserate with, to cry with.

E.B. White once famously ended his masterpiece, Charlotte’s Web, with the following line:

It is not often that someone comes along that is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.

On this day, the day that the last #2017debut, Amanda Searcy’s The Truth Beneath the Lies, is published, it seems like the most fitting quote to end a remarkable year.

It’s December 1st!

And since I love the hustle and bustle of December, and all of the holidays that are included, I thought I might put together a gift for YOU.

It’s been a thrill to have my first book published and a thrill to edit the next one, which you’ll hear more about in the coming weeks when the cover is revealed.

To thank you for your support this year, I’ve decided to not only give away a hardcover copy of It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! but also two middle grade novels that I loved so much I read them in one sitting: The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore and The Someday Birds by Sally Pla. I’ll even throw in some Pig Face bookmarks.

I love to share writing and reading resources.

One of my favourite ones is Book Riot, a wonderful site chock-full of great articles, reviews and news from the book world.

Of course, my favourite section is the Children’s section, and I can’t tell you how many great articles I’ve read there, and how many recommendations for books I’ve gotten there that have turned out to be fantastic.

One of my author friends, Karina Yan Glaser is a regular contributor to Book Riot and I love her articles.

This is the time of year that parents and other adults are searching for recommendations of good books for the children in their life.

Am so happy to announce that It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! has been chosen by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s as one of its Best Books for Kids and Teens 2017!

It’s a real honour to be included in a “best of” list by such a prestigious organization, and it’s fun that Pig Face is right beside his good friend Holly Farb, written by the wonderful Gareth Wronski!

The funny thing is, when you write a book you have no idea if other people will like it.

So I’m happy to end 2017 on such a high note and looking forward (I hope!) to making next year’s list with my next book, The Frame-Up!

Every book I write is different.

My writing process, for good or bad, is not.

Since I am in the throes of revising to meet a December deadline, thought I would share the exact process I go through to write a book.

Granted, I’ve only written nine books in the last three years (only three of which will likely ever see the light of day) but the following list is a somewhat humorous and oh-so-accurate depiction of my writing life:

I do an outline, write character sketches, think of backstory that I will forget in about one week, realize my synopsis is so vague as to be almost incoherent, and promptly begin to write and throw away half of synopsis by the end of the first quarter

Characters run amok

Plot turns out to be plotless

Someone who I’ve not been expecting shows up and decides they want to be in my book. I ask them to leave, but it turns out they are more interesting than half the characters I drafted sketches for and allow them to stay, at which point they completely bugger up the plot some more

Finish first draft. Allow self one hour of solid jubilation then switch into a shame spiral, where I decide I really ought to call my agent and explain what a mistake she has made and then call my editor and give her money back.

I do neither of these things because I am inherently selfish

Begin draft two. Realize draft one must be set on fire. Characters taunt me. Plot holes are so deep I fall int them and take days to dig out. I soldier on, because I am Capricorn, and frankly, that’s what we do

Finish draft two. Have some moments of jubilation. Come to shocking conclusion that my unmatched brilliance is unmatched because there is no brilliance. Somehow, dreams of writing like Neil Gaiman has given way to writing like the wanted ads or a bad Saturday Night Live sketch

Send to critique partners

Receive their feedback

Move to fetal position. Check want ads. Wonder if my fifties is too late to become a plumber. Don’t care; plumbing is a noble art

Crawl out of hole

Take what is useful from critique partners and beta readers and my own understanding after doing first two horrible drafts

Rewrite

Discover there is a book there

Finish third draft – there is no jubilation, but there may be alcohol and chocolate

Send to agent

There is a book there, but it is hidden under bad writing and ill-conceived plot and characterization

Start fourth draft. Wait – there may be themes. Actually have decent descriptions. Characters more fully created and less likely to taunt me because they want to make the cut

I don’t know about you, but the holiday season always seems like the perfect time of year to add to my picture book collection. (Well actually, any time of year seems like a good time of year to add to my picture book collection, but never mind…)

And one of my favourite genres is the wordless picture book.

This is the ultimate example of how wonderful illustrations can tell a story.

It’s also a wonderful reading experience, curling up with a child and together, you and they add your own spin to the story.

When my children were young, they were crazy about Peter Spier’s wordless picture books:

Other wonderful options:

Zoom, by Istvan Banyai

The Red Book by Barbara Lehman

This year, I’ve added a new wordless picture book to my collection, one that combines two of my favourite things: The Nutcracker and Author/Illustrator Elly MacKay.

Most of you know that Elly is one of my favourite illustrators. Her work is magical, and her latest book, THE WALTZ OF THE SNOWFLAKES, doesn’t disappoint.

The illustrations are absolutely glorious, and I can imagine many children poring over this book and inventing their own dialogue between the two main characters, a young boy and a young girl, who are initially reluctant, then enthralled, to attend the ballet.

I always want to step right into Elly’s worlds, and this book is no different. You can watch the short You Tube video below to see how she does the incredible world she does: